


Three's A Crowd

by blanchards



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Ambassador Sokka (Avatar), Domestic Fluff, Firelord Zuko (Avatar), Fluff, Friendship/Love, Love, M/M, Post-100 Year War (Avatar TV), as always I checked for mistakes but Who Knows, do they really get a pet or does the pet get them, it's like two seconds long but you've been warned, my spellings are Like That because I'm english don't come for me, sokka and zuko in a pre-established relationship, the way this fic just flew through me and used my body as a vessel, tw for a non graphic mention of animal abuse/injury, we make our own canon in this house
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:36:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27184610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blanchards/pseuds/blanchards
Summary: Sometimes family is two men and their 6ft tall sabre-tooth moose lion.(Sokka and Zuko get a pet. Kind of.)
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 25
Kudos: 253





	Three's A Crowd

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is inspired by some adorable and hilarious artwork by @sword-over-water on tumblr. You can view it  
> [here.](http://sword-over-water.tumblr.com/post/632838510557134848/ah-yes-me-my-husband-and-his-800-kilo-six-feet)  
> I'm rating this G because honestly, it's not really dramatic or saucy at all. I wanted to say there is one very brief description of an animal in pain, but that's all :)

It happens on a journey back through the south-eastern Earth Kingdom. Zuko doesn’t spot it at first: the pensive, curious expression from the person walking beside him. He’s keeping his eyes trained on the dirt path as they stroll past the canopy of trees lining the road.

Having ditched the royal palanquin in favour of travelling on foot, _to get some fresh air_ Zuko had explained, waving off his guardsmen, they were now climbing a slow ascent back in the direction they’d previously travelled days earlier. There were faster ways to get to their destination, he knew this, but the way Sokka’s face lit up at the mere suggestion of wandering off the beaten path was enough to force him to cave. So, there they were, underneath the Earth Kingdom midday sun, wandering along a sandy trail in the middle of nowhere. The look of content on Sokka’s face had been enough to make Zuko burst.

Averting his eyes for a moment from the horizon to the boy beside him, cursing the blisters that would almost certainly form on his feet within the hour, Zuko noticed something new in Sokka’s expression. Something curious, wide-eyed, and visually alert... hopeful? He squeezed the hand knotted into his own.

“I haven’t been back here in so long.” Sokka offered, without further prompting. There was an easy smile on his face, no doubt the scenery brought back waves of nostalgia. Zuko couldn’t help but slightly grimace at the thought: the nostalgia of running away from _him_. It had been a handful of years since Aang brought down his father and, with it, the tyrannical rule he held over the world. It had been even longer since Zuko had made that fateful decision to stand with him when it happened – a decision that had changed things forever. He let out a soft smile looking towards Sokka’s bright-eyed face beside him. _Oh, it had changed things alright._

Apparently, Sokka had continued talking; as he now met his boyfriend's soft face with a quizzical look painted on his own. “Did you hear what I just said?” He raised an eyebrow, but there was no indignation in his tone - Sokka was used to Zuko’s penchant for constantly going off into his own daydreams, perhaps better than anyone was.

“Sorry” Zuko mumbled, a gentle blush flushing his face with embarrassment. Sokka made a point of rolling his eyes. He squeezed their hands together tighter.

“I said the last time I walked through this forest I nearly died.”

Zuko had to admit, he faltered at that one. _Sorry, died??_ Had he heard that correctly??

“I fell into a crevice, it was a whole thing. If it wasn’t for Aang and Toph I’d have probably been left there to decompose.” His tone was light and comical but Zuko really didn’t want to think about his boyfriend trapped in a small earth chasm for all of eternity. He opted to steer the conversation in a different direction instead.

“How did you get stuck?”

He didn’t really need to know, Sokka was pretty renowned for doing ridiculous, spur of the moment things. You’d never have assumed that, being an intelligent tactical leader, with a schedule for almost everything, he could be so inclined to acting on impulse. Toph had once called him the dumbest genius she’d ever met.

The Water Tribe boy looked away sheepishly, “I was trying to catch a baby moose lion.”

“To _eat_?!” Zuko may have spent the first 13 years of his life tucked away in his father’s stifling palace, but the past 7 had taught him everything needed to know about being out in the wild. And one of those things was: wherever there’s a baby, the parent isn’t far behind.

“No, I wanted it to be my friend.” Sokka deadpanned, lying, still looking away. He had a humorous shine in his eyes. Zuko often wished he could bottle that expression and stare at it forever. “Look, if it matters, by the time I got out of there I didn’t want to eat him anymore.”

“If the mother would have even let you close enough to try.”

“Yeah, she nearly killed me, too.”

“Sokka!”

He was laughing now, they both were. It’s true, Sokka was immensely talented at getting himself into situations that could never happen to anyone but him. But the one other thing that he was just as good at, was getting out of them. Usually unscathed. Usually.

Zuko tried to frown but his face wouldn’t let him, so he opted for stifling his own laughter instead.

They walked on for another ten minutes in comfortable silence, interlinked hands still swinging between them.

“I wonder...” Sokka’s voice broke through the quiet after a while, “Do you think he’s still around here?” He turned to Zuko, who was trying very hard to pretend he didn’t see the mischievous look forming on his boyfriend’s face. He knew what that look meant, and it wasn’t _let’s calmly continue our journey, as planned, without further shenanigans_.

Most moose lions migrated further south during the winter, and as the cold months were only just dissolving into spring, Zuko knew that there was a good chance that even if Sokka’s old ‘friend’ _did_ still reside around here, he probably wasn’t back yet. The answer to the question was 90% of a resounding “not likely”. But then he saw Sokka’s face, wide-eyed and glowing with renewed hope, as well as that mischief he’d spotted earlier. It was such a beautiful face. Zuko sighed as he decided to humour it. “There’s a _small_ possibility.” Small meaning minute. Microscopic. Barely visible to the human eye.

It was enough.

He felt his hand drop and Sokka was suddenly bounding forward, out of nowhere. Ducking behind trees. Lifting up bushes. _A full-grown moose lion? Really, Sokka? And he’s going to be under a shrub?_ Zuko rolled his eyes, although it was charming, Sokka could be impossible once he got an idea into his head. And by the looks of his hurrying around, his expression a thinly veiled combination of focus and glee, Zuko knew that was exactly what this was. He wasn’t going to let it go.

One of the royal guards jogged up behind him. They’d been asked to walk several feet behind - being the Fire Lord didn’t come with a whole lot of privacy as is, and Zuko would take some whenever he could. “My lord,” the guard began, catching her breath slightly “is Ambassador Sokka... okay?” There was a chuckle, Zuko recognised it as coming from his own mouth.

“He’s looking for a moose lion.”

A pause. “It’s- but it’s February, Sir.”

“He knows.”

“But the moose lions-” she cut herself off as Sokka came back towards them at full speed. He wasn’t a threat, Zuko _loved_ him for crying out loud, but as if ingrained into her psyche (it probably was) he felt the guard behind him stiffen up.

He was gasping for breath from his miniature sprint. “I- found- behind- tree- a footprint!” Sokka beamed. Zuko raised his eyebrow. Unlikely.

But he didn’t have time to protest before his hand was clasped in another’s and being dragged back to the spot he’d just seen his ambassador run from.

* * *

Well. Damn.

That sure was a footprint.

 _And the correct footprint too._ And huge. Massive. If this truly was Sokka’s moose lion then he was a far stretch from the baby he’d once claimed to meet. Zuko suddenly got the feeling in his stomach of how bad an idea this truly was. His gaze flittered over to the other boy, currently leaning against a nearby tree looking extremely impressed with himself. As if on cue, his own eyes met Zuko's, and, he was sad to report, the previously spotted mischief behind them had only grown.

“We’re not keeping it.” He puts his foot down as soon as they’re back in the clearing. “ _If_ we find it, we’re not keeping it.”

There were really very few things Zuko knew he could say no to Sokka over. In the 3 or so years of their relationship, he found he could barely count them on two hands. Taking home a giant moose lion as a pet had just made the cut.

“B- but!”

“Sokka, _no_.”

He hated the way in which Sokka’s face fell, giving way for... was he sulking? Oh, he was definitely sulking. Zuko gave his hand a squeeze. “If you really want a pet, I’m sure we can find you one once we get back in the Fire Nation. Something... smaller and... domesticated.”

Sokka glared. It cut through Zuko like glass, even if he knew there was no real cruelty behind it.

He hated being the bad guy (wasn’t that ironic) - especially since Sokka had given up so much for him. After the war, they’d maintained a steady relationship of back and forth to each other’s territories. Planned visits. Ample messenger hawks. About a year ago, that’d changed. Zuko hadn’t been confident he’d heard correctly when, upon leaving his bi-monthly visit to the South Pole, Sokka asked if he could come with him. Sokka _loved_ his home, it was a huge part of his identity - and was he really willing to leave it behind to spend 8 months a year in the nation that had once destroyed it? But he also loved Zuko. And it seemed like, in his mind at least, it had been decided that that was all there was to it.

So, they’d spent the past year doing everything together. Quarterly, Sokka had, of course, travelled back home for a few weeks - nobody expected him to give that up – and occasionally Zuko would follow in tow for a week if he could find the time. And though it’s true, the arrangement could change any moment and Sokka was wholly here by his boyfriend’s side of his own free will - Zuko wasn’t sure he’d ever shake the feeling of guilt from his stomach. _So, what if Sokka wanted a giant moose-lion-hybrid creature to live with them?_ The devil on Zuko’s shoulder offered, unhelpfully. _Didn’t he kind of deserve it? Sokka gave up a huge part of his life for Zuko, and he couldn’t even let him have a pet?_ He huffed. On one hand, there was a point – Sokka did so much for him already, and the joy he was sure to glean from him upon granting is his wish alone almost made the decision worth it. But on the other hand, a moose lion wasn’t a hawk or a turtle duck, it was a huge responsibility - and both he and Sokka were very busy people. Not to mention it was a _wild_ animal, would it even _want_ to leave with them? It made little more sense than it did for Aang to have Appa, and yet… _they_ made it work. Zuko glared down at his shoes, the jury was out.

He must have kept walking for a further two or three minutes before he realised Sokka was no longer by his side. Glancing behind him, slightly panicked – was Sokka really this upset? – he noticed the other man, ground to a halt back where they’d stood. He slowly backtracked.

With his softest smile, he reached out and gently touched his boyfriend’s arm; smooth, dark, warm skin buzzing, yet unmoving beneath his touch. Sokka didn’t push him away, so that was a good sign at least. “Sweetheart-”

“SHHHH.” Sokka hissed at him, eyes trained towards the trees, only slightly flickering back and forth every so often. Zuko widened his own, slightly in surprise, but was largely compliant - he shushed. And then he heard it. Somewhere, just beyond their line of sight. Almost a whimper. Certainly quiet enough that, if allowed to continue, Zuko would have completely spoken over it. How did Sokka have such a good ear for spotting these things? He slowly dropped his arm and followed his lead, carefully, delicately, treading towards the greenery.

Tied, amongst some leaves and wire in what seemed to be a hastily thrown together trap was a large, imposing figure. Deep brown fur slightly matted in areas where the wire had clearly dug into its skin. It looked up at the two with huge brown eyes and, whilst he felt Sokka wince beside him, Zuko stood absolutely still. Unable to look away. He frowned to himself. He still wasn’t going to take this animal with them, that he knew, but it was clear they also couldn’t just _leave_ him here.

Sokka moved before he did. The animal’s eyes widened with terror as he approached, suddenly bucking to leave, and crying when it only hurt itself further in its efforts. Zuko’s heart broke for it.

“Shhh” Came Sokka’s voice again, this time much gentler than it had been earlier. “Shhh. Shhh. Hey buddy. Hey, hey yeah, it’s me. Remember me?” Zuko wasn’t entirely sure how the man could quite recognise this animal as _his_ moose lion, but Sokka seemed to be creeping closer with a definitive certainty plastered in his features. Maybe he couldn’t tell, and maybe he just knew the creature needed help and Agni save him if he wasn’t going to be the one to offer it. Zuko didn’t know. What he did know, was whilst lost in his thoughts, Sokka had managed to approach the wounded animal up close and was now gently stroking it – cautiously, it’s clear he’d learnt his lesson about wild animals from that experience many years ago, but with unbridled empathy, gently shushing it as he reached down for his pocket knife to start work on the wire.

“I’ll get the medic.” Zuko mumbled, backing away slightly. He could have stared forever, enveloped in watching Sokka gently tend to the animal, but it needed help and he simply couldn’t just stand there knowing that – Zuko wasn’t that kind of a person anymore, sometimes he wondered if he ever had been.

“It isn’t coming inside.” Zuko folded his arms. _This_ time he wasn’t budging, surely. Whilst it’s true, they couldn’t leave the animal there to suffer it was _also_ true that they did not have the time to care for a wounded moose lion blocked out in their schedules. But when Sokka had suggested they take him back with them, _just until he’s recovered,_ and Zuko had reluctantly sighed with a nod, the look on his face could have outmatched the light from a thousand fire benders. Zuko swore, he was really going to have to get better at this whole Telling-Sokka-No thing. But he also wasn’t a monster, and he’d be hard-pressed to admit he hadn’t known the second they saw the helpless animal that it’d be coming home with them – no matter how many Noblemen Zuko would have to fight for it to happen.

He sighed. Pulling his eyes from the undeniably cute sight of Sokka calmly ushering the moose lion onto the dirt path, he worried his lip slightly, glancing over at the discarded netting they’d cut to shreds. He had no doubt that _Foo Foo Cuddlypoops (_ Sokka had _insisted_ on the name _)_ was supposed to be somebody’s meal. Probably several people’s. He couldn’t help the twinge of guilt returning to his abdomen. It didn’t feel fair to leave the creature to suffer, but it similarly didn’t feel fair to leave whoever would eventually come back for it empty-handed. Zuko made a silent resolution that should they see anyone heading to collect their bounty, he would more than compensate them for the trade. Or, if they saw anyone upon their return. And there would definitely be a return.

Because it wasn’t their pet. They weren’t keeping it. Even if it did lick him whenever he came near it with a dopy look on It’s face and even if Sokka did look at it like all his birthday wishes were coming true at once. Even if Zuko’s pulse did race slightly when Sokka pulled him towards the floor of the ship as they sailed on home, into a pile against the animal’s soft fur and Sokka’s strong, warm arms.

They were not doing this. Zuko’s mind could not be changed. But, if he happened to contact the palace on the last leg of their trip home, and if he happened to request his – their – sleeping quarters be moved to the ground level, with ample access to a large paddock outside it, and if he happened to request the placement of a large plush bed (“ _the biggest you can find”_ ) beside his own and if he _happened_ to also request the kitchen stock themselves with _“whatever moose lions like to eat”_ , well, then that was nobody’s business but his own.

* * *

“He’s not getting on the bed.” Okay, _this_ time Zuko meant it. Sokka may have proved him wrong about having an animal, and maybe Sokka was just the most caring, loving pet owner he’d ever seen and maybe that did make his heart do little cartwheels whenever he caught it. And he loved Foo Foo Cuddlypoops (Sokka was _still_ insisting on the name) plenty and he was _happy_ to have the beautiful, playful creature around; organising meetings and responding to government requests certainly wasn’t as draining with a 6ft fluff ball curled up around his desk, chewing at his coattails and licking Zuko’s face whenever it decided they needed a break. Seeing the joy it brought Sokka, watching them from the open doors, tea in hand, in the misty early hours of sunrise, as they ran round in circles exchanging respective noises of glee, was an experience Zuko never knew he’d missed until he had it – and now he wasn’t sure how he’d be able to breathe without it.

But he drew the line at this.

“He’s not. Getting. On the bed.” He repeated, louder this time with a clearing of this throat. Twice this week alone Zuko had had to request new bedding. Their new best friend was apparently wholly unaware that he possessed _antlers_ , and that they were _sharp_ , and that the palace was now at least eight pillows short.

Sokka pouted. It was incredibly effective. Zuko scowled.

“His whole world exists inside this palace, Zuko, how can you make him sleep on the floor?” his boyfriend whined, jutting his bottom lip out, puppy dog eyes equipped. Agni he was beautiful even when he sulked.

“It was _your_ idea to bring him here.” Besides, it wasn’t his _whole_ world, Zuko was sure he’d be coming with them next time they had to make a far journey, and it’s not like he was technically forcing him to sleep on the _floor_. The creature glanced down at his own bed, lying beside theirs, as if he could read minds - he seemed disinterested.

“ _Please_ Zuko. I won’t let him rip any more pillows.” And Zuko threw his hands in the air because how could Sokka promise that? But it _was_ Sokka. Sokka with his crystal blue eyes and kind face and glowing smile and _Agni_ Zuko was going to have to _hire_ somebody to say no to him because apparently, he was incapable of mentioning the words. He grumbled in defeat and got into the sheets beside Sokka, pretending very hard that he couldn’t see his boyfriend beaming directly at him with such a warmth that Zuko was sure he could feel it. A moment later he felt a thud, then some shuffling as Sokka, one hand stroking their pet’s stomach, snuggled up to him, tucking his head under Zuko’s arm so his face was flush to his chest. Zuko put out the torches in their room with a swift flick of his hand then laid it to rest over his boyfriend’s side. Leaning down, he gently pressed the faintest of kisses into Sokka’s delicate lips. As he pulled back, despite everything in him, he was smiling down fondly as he watched a pair of big blue eyes flicker closed. 

“If he breaks the bed frame, _you’re_ sleeping on the floor tomorrow.” He spoke into the darkness after a moment. There was no response. Sokka was already sound asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! Leave a comment, if you like, or you can find me on tumblr @ [tysukis](http://www.tysukis.tumblr.com)  
> Don’t forget to check out sword-over-waters [fantastic art](http://sword-over-water.tumblr.com/post/632838510557134848/ah-yes-me-my-husband-and-his-800-kilo-six-feet) and have a nice day!


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